Posted 4 years ago on May 10, 2013, 3:55 a.m. EST by FreeNakoula
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Nakoula Basseley Nakoula deserves a place in American history. He is the first person in this country jailed for violating Islamic anti-blasphemy laws.

You won’t find that anywhere in the charges against him, of course. As a practical matter, though, everyone knows that Nakoula wouldn’t be in jail today if he hadn’t produced a video crudely lampooning the prophet Muhammad.

In the weeks after the attack on U.S. facilities in Benghazi that killed Ambassador Chris Stevens and three others, the Obama administration claimed the terrorist assault had been the outgrowth of a demonstration against the Nakoula video. The administration ran public service announcements in Pakistan featuring President Barack Obama saying the U.S. had nothing to do with it. In a speech at the United Nations around this time, the president declared — no doubt with Nakoula in mind — “The future must not belong to those who slander the prophet of Islam

After Benghazi, the administration was evidently filled with a fierce resolve — to bring Nakoula Basseley Nakoula to justice. Charles Woods, the father of a Navy SEAL killed in Benghazi, said Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told him when his son’s body returned to Andrews Air Force Base: “We will make sure that the person who made that film is arrested and prosecuted

22 Comments

Nakoula Basseley Nakoula Is Not A “Political Prisoner”
He broke the law - not by making a movie

Doug Mataconis · Thursday, May 9, 2013
Among the side characters that arose during the aftermath of the attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, which coincided with unrelated protests that developed in various Muslim countries over a YouTube clip purporting to be from a film called Innocence Of Muslims is a man named Nakoula Basseley Nakoula. Nakoula is the producer of the film under the alias name of Sam Bacile and, in the immediate aftermath of the attack and the protests became of interest to Federal law enforcement.
Nakoula had been convicted several years ago of multiple counts of bank fraud in Federal Court. As part of his probation, Nakoula was barred from using any aliases and was also barred from using the Internet during the time that he was under probation.
When the film itself and his role in it first became public, Nakoula was brought in for questioning by Federal authorities. As I noted at the time, under the terms of his probation Nakoula was required to comply with all requests from law enforcement so there was nothing improper about the fact that the L.A. Sheriff’s Office escorted him from his home to the Federal office where he was questiond.

Despite this, the mere fact of Nakoula being questioned caused some conservatives to go off the deep end. Glenn Reynolds, for example, absurdly said that it was grounds for President Obama to resign his office.Nakoula was arrested on charges that he had violated the terms of his probation by using at least one alias while raising money to make his “movie,” and by using the Internet in the process of doing so.
Later, the judge sentenced him to one year in a Federal Prison for violating the terms of his probation, a sentence that is set to expire in November of this year.

Bizarrely, throughout this whole process, Nakoula has become some kind of a cause celbre for the right wing, who believe him to be a victim of the Obama Administration’s efforts to cover-up the true story behind the Benghazi attacks. The latest version of this can be seen in a column published at Politico by National Review’s Rich Lowry:

Nakoula Basseley Nakoula deserves a place in American history. He is the first person in this country jailed for violating Islamic anti-blasphemy laws.
You won’t find that anywhere in the charges against him, of course.

Other conservatives have, in the past and now in the wake of yesterday’s testimony before the House Oversight Committee, referred to Nakoula as a “political prisoner.”

This is fundamentally absurd.

Let’s just make a few things clear. As I noted above, Nakoula was convicted on multiple fraud charges in 2010 and ended up with a sentence that placed him on probation, a very generous outcome to say the least. Among the terms of his probation were the requirements that he not use aliases and not use the Internet.
When the existence of the film and his involvement in it came to light, it obviously would have raised the interest of his Probation Officer, which is probably the most likely explanation for why he was brought in for questioning to begin with. When he was charged with violating the terms of his probation he was granted, as the law requires, the right to a public hearing where he was represented by counsel. After that hearing, he received his sentence.

That, apparently, isn’t good enough for Lowry:
A violation of probation, though, usually produces a court summons and doesn’t typically lead to more jail time unless it involves an offense that would be worth prosecuting in its own right under federal standards. Not for Nakoula. Nakoula’s underlying offense wasn’t an underlying offense. He exercised his First Amendment rights. His case has symbolic significance in the ongoing battle over whether the Muslim world will embrace modernity, and the panoply of freedoms associated with it, or whether it will continue to slide backward by adopting blasphemy laws punishing expressions deemed offensive to Islam. The administration has been dismayingly willing to accommodate the latter tendency. Nakoula’s jail time appears indistinguishable from what the 56-nation Organization of Islamic Cooperation, devoted to pushing blasphemy laws around the world, calls “deterrent punishment” for “Islamophobia.”

There’s just one problem with what Lowry says here, and it’s that it doesn’t comport with either the facts of the case or what actually happens in probation violation proceedings Federal Courts.

Popehat’s Ken White. an attorney in California, explains:
I’ve observed, and participated in, federal supervised release revocation proceedings since 1995. In writing about Nakoula I’ve drawn not only on that experience but on the actual documents from his case and on the law. My premise has been this: anyone on supervised release for a federal fraud conviction and owing more than $700,000 in restitution would face supervised release revocation if the Probation Office discovered that they were using aliases, engaging in unreported financial transactions, and using computers in those transactions, all in violation of their terms of release. Most federal judges would issue arrest warrants, not summonses, and most federal judges would order jail time to such a person if they found he had obtained and used a false driver’s license and concealed transactions from the Probation Officer. Rich Lowry’s claim that “[a] violation of probation, though, usually produces a court summons and doesn’t typically lead to more jail time unless it involves an offense that would be worth prosecuting in its own right under federal standards” is quite frankly pulled straight out of his ass. Supervisees are routinely arrested rather than summoned, particularly when there are indications they might be a flight risk — like using a false identity. Supervisees are routinely returned to prison for offenses that would never be prosecuted federally as separate crimes.

In other words, in the context of a typical Federal probation revocation hearing and assuming all facts being the same, there’s likely no reason to believe that Nakoula’s imprisonment is an unusual outcome that can somehow be ascribed to an effort by the Obama Administration to establish this producer of an incredbly badly made YouTube video as the fall guy for the murder of an American Ambassador and three others. The available public facts all establish that he broke the law - used an alias, accessed the Internet, and engaged in secret financial transactions, all of which he hid from his Probation Officer. While I’m not an expert in Federal criminal law, I can say that I’ve learned to trust Ken White’s judgement on these issues enough to think that his opinion that a probation revocation resulting in a one year prison sentence is really not all that outrageous is likely correct. Moreover, if it was, I’d have to wonder why Nakoula’s attorney’s aren’t screaming to the rooftops about how their client is being railroaded by the Federal Government. Instead, they’ve been largely silent and, as far as I can tell, have not filed any kind of appeal of this sentence.

The ironic thing about all of this is that Nakoula Basseley Nakoula is someone who has been convicted on multiple fraud charges, and who then went on to violate the terms of his probation. And, yet, conservatives trust him more than they trust the President of the United States.

Goodness. must have struck a leftwing talking (sore)point......tho, you can fill a page or 2 over anything. Nakoula was a scapegoat, plain and simple....guess it will take Rachel, or Chris, or ABC or NBC to say this before you might believe? Or maybe when the folks that pay you to TROLL THIS SITE with Obama talking points when they give you your PINK SLIP?

Can you tell me how he broke parole? Do you know the circumstances, or are you just repeating your Media Matters talking points? Killary promised the grieving families of the Benghazi 4 that the video maker would go to jail. Didn't see any mention of jailing him over his "parole violation". She was going to jail him for making a movie that she falsely blamed for the death of those folks. I know you are in denial that our PeacePrizePrez lied about why the attacks took place....but hasn't recent information made you realize the facts,. even if you are a paid poster to disseminate dnc spin?

Included in his probation terms were prohibitions on his use of the Internet, unless he secured prior approval from his probation officer. Additionally, he was not to “use, for any purpose or in any manner, any name other than his/her true legal name or names without the prior written approval of the Probation Officer.”

While producing “Innocence of Muslims,” Nakoula repeatedly used the alias “Sam Bacile” (and other variants) in communications, online postings, and dealings with cast and crew working on the film.

As TSG reported earlier this month, Nakoula began cooperating with federal investigators following his arrest in the check-kiting scheme (during which he used a variety of aliases). In return for Nakoula’s cooperation, Department of Justice prosecutors provided Judge Snyder with a letter noting that his substantial assistance to authorities warranted a sentence reduction.

since you continue to attack me rather than address the issue -
and lie about me -
you have earned the title TROLL
you may find better sources if, when you sit on the toilet, you sit with the other end up. bye bye

The truth is less dramatic - but easy to find - if you dare to read it
3:43 PM PDT 9/27/2012 by Seth Abramovitch

Citing a "lengthy pattern of deception," the court finds "a lack of trust in the defendant at this time" and jails Nakoula Basseley Nakoula. Nakoula Basseley Nakoula, the 55-year-old filmmaker who sparked violence worldwide after releasing portions of his anti-Islamic film Innocence of Muslims online, has been jailed for violating terms of his parole, the Los Angeles Times reports.

Nakoula, who was credited as Sam Bacile in the production notes, appeared in Los Angeles federal court Thursday afternoon, where Judge Suzanne H. Segal cited a "lengthy pattern of deception," which included lying to parole officials.

"The court has a lack of trust in the defendant at this time," Segal said, adding that Nakoula posed "some danger to the community."

Earlier in the day, Reuters reported that the arrest was confirmed by a court spokesman, who said Nokoula would later face a bail hearing with regard to an ongoing investigation into whether he violated the terms of his 2011 release from prison on a bank fraud conviction.

The parole terms barred Nakoula from "accessing the Internet or using aliases without the permission of a probation officer," according to Reuters.

An Egypt-born California resident with a long and colorful criminal history, Nakoula been identified as the man who masterminded Innocence of Muslims -- a virulently anti-Islamic film blamed for sparking deadly violence in the Middle East, North Africa and other regions around the globe.

Indeed he is the fall guy. I cannot believe all the enlightened, liberal, constitution loving people that hang out on this forum have no feelings about the wrongs that have been done this man.

Yes, the video he made was disgusting (or so I understand, has anyone REALLY seen it?).....

But to be imprisoned as if it was his fault we lost 4 Americans in Libya (could easily have been THIRTY 4) and no one seems to care? Whar's up with that LIBERALS? You condone an unfair imprisonment because he freely spoke in an unpolitically correct way???

A parole violation that would not have put him in prison for a year under more normal circumstances.

People have forgotten about "the movie". Not just that it wasn't mentioned in the talking points or any of the emails that flew around DC the first few days, but the movie itself. It was originally Innocence of OBL and was shot as a honeypot to lure jihadists in LA to the movie theater it was actually shown in. Nakoula was working with FBI after getting busted for some shit a few yrs ago. The original stories about him when "they" were pushing the movie theory were false, too. Google around and read about it.

Benghazi was a false flag. Think about it. Why would Islamic extremists kill the guy who helped them kill Gadhafi and was helping them fight Assad do this?

With the renewed/initial (MSM) interest in Benghazi, why is it no one asks/discusses WHY?

the " movie" is protected by the first amendment. stevens was in benghazi to cover up gun running by this country to syria. stevens was not supposed to be murdered, he was tortured and gang raped ( stevens was gay). they other 3 americans were also gang raped, one was beheaded.

Of course he did nothing illegal -
I'm sure that you have read the transcript of his original fraud convictions - and know he did nothing illegal
I'm sure that you have read the transcript of his sentencing & probation agreements - and know he did nothing illegal
I'm sure that you know that you cant be imprisoned for violating parole
I'm sure that you are an experienced lawyer who knows more that the judges involved

I'm sure you know that his lawyers & the ACLU are working day and night to get this innocent victim out of jail